On the way back from our trip to Sion, Si suggested we stop in Gruyère to sample some of her favorite cheese.It’s a tiny medieval town, the origin of Gruyère cheese and some say it is the best place in Switzerland for fondue. We are huge proponents of food dipped in cheese so it had to be done.

The tourist area of Gruyère is mostly contained within the walls of a castle and lined with restaurants serving fondue and shops selling fondue pots, cheese and chocolate.

We were struck by the views here before even making it inside the castle walls and stopped to take lots of pictures, explore (that’s Shane on the castle wall with Gabriel & Isa in the picture below) and to just admire the view of the surrounding mountains.

Once inside we looked around the small market selling used books (I’m a sucker for pretty French books). We sought out a restaurant that could accommodate the eight of us and serve me veggies in lieu of gluteny bread. We were looking for a place outside to enjoy the sun and town atmosphere but what we found turned out to be even better.

We found a comfy table in the back of a restaurant with this amazing view:

I didn’t get many photos of the mouthwatering deliciousness but you get the idea. Ryan and I ordered extra veggies with ours and I got my fill of cheese covered veggies before Ryan dug in with the bread so that the cheese was not contaminated. I was a little apprehensive about gluten cross-contamination but thankfully no allergic reaction here! Ashley and Brandon ordered a bread bowl of fondue, which looked pretty fantastic. A sign of good fondue is less ingredients. I am pretty sure this was just Gruyère and wine, as it should be! The group agreed that this fondue was pretty awesome and once all of our bellies were full and happy, we headed out to walk around the town and see the castle.

As usual, there were street performers outside and a few kids danced along with the fun and folksy Alpine music. This is really one of my favorite things about Europe. You can always count on street performers to improve the ambiance of any town.

Gruyère is a cute little town with quaint side streets, cool castle walls, loads of shops for chocolate and cheese and a quiet park with shady spots to sit and read or take nap after a big lunch.

While Gruyère alone may not warrant the drive from Wiesbaden it was more than worth leaving Sion a little early to make this stop and enjoy an indulgent lunch and spectacular scenery on the way home. If you are in the area (or even close), definitely make this stop!